Three Years Later...

Holy moly, has it been 3 years? Why, yes, yes it has. I have to say, being able to just get right back on the blog bandwagon is a cyber-marvel that i deeply appreciate.

I'm going to just jump right in here and forgo the catch up. It's 42 minutes before the clock turns to 2014, and the rest of the family is already sleeping and has been for a couple of hours yet. We invited folks over tomorrow, and I popped some squash in to roast for soup and have some chicken stock going on the stove. It's late, but I am appreciating the quiet, solo time.

2014 is already shaping up to be a year for the books (or er, blogs) for us. The biggest developments are the fact that our kids aren't returning to school on Thursday and instead will homeschool. Kevin has set his sights on a Masters program for Positive Organizational Development. Luckily, these two beginnings are staggered :)

I have said to many people that if you had told me even 6 months ago that we would be on the eve of homeschooling right now, I probably would have laughed. I have been deep in launching and building my private homeopathy practice. I committed to traveling to Sweden three times a year (for the next 3 years) to do advanced studies. And I desperately love my alone time. My kids were in a lovely little small rural school. They came home pretty happy and the complaining wasn't even a dull roar.

so, why?

Time.
Depth.
Creativity.
Connection.
Exploration.
Relationships.
Time.
Creativity
Depth.

It all began with a spark of watching my son play with a couple of other friends who homeschool, and witnessing the pure joy and abandon and motivation on his face as they engaged in a kind of play (ok, it was with fire, which *most* if not *all* boys are pretty enthralled with. and YES it was a totally safe situation) that he rarely gets time for. Even in weekends and summer, i saw immediately that this kind of play and exploration needed intention and it needed space. You cannot fit that kind of intention and space into the precious few hours between afterschool and bedtime when there's homework, after school activities and dinner. Weekends are filled with visiting, catching up on household chores, events, and the occasional days to re-coup. Summers? We barely get in the swing of those long, free days when school is right around the corner. Oh yeah, and those days are broken up by camps, vacations (not the same), and rushing to fit in everything you want to get done before the weather turns... and the kids go back to school.

I have had the good fortune to observe various homeschool families in my community. I've lurked on various websites and done a lot of reading. I've had time to formulate my thoughts and tease out what felt right, and what didn't. Most of this I did while my kids were going to school with no thought that they wouldn't, but now that we are, I realize that so many ideas have been percolating and simmering in the recesses of my mind, it feels familiar. (Catch me in a few weeks and I am sure I will be at the other extreme!) And we've taken months to ease into this, many conversations with the kids, many conversations between Kevin and I, as we talked pros and cons and theory and philosophy and approach.

It also feels like the third leg to a stool. Kevin and I both are building careers that are built firmly on the value of the individual, and the individual's experience. As a homeopath, I look for the right medicine for each individual who comes to me. If I only treated asthma, I would still give each person a different remedy. Kevin's work draws on the unique strengths of people to work together and find the best possible solutions for *them*- not for the company next door. It becomes harder and harder to send your kids to learn in a system that is standardized and cannot accommodate the individual very well by design- when your Work in the world, is the opposite. Especially when you see that Work- tapping into the strength of the individual- is amazing... you watch people shine, become happy, healthy, and more focused and grounded in the world. You want that for your kids. We want that for our kids. And all excuses and arguments to the contrary begin to breakdown.

Finally, the bit about Time. If there is one thing that almost every family will say is one of the most rewarding aspects homeschooling, it's time. As someone who struggled when the kids were small, and I just wanted and needed my own 'time,' I now look at my 7 and 10 year old and feel a bit of disbelief- like where?when?how? And we are not people who over-schedule. We are not excessively social. And yet, the school schedule carved up our life into little bits- the morning bit, the afternoon bit, the weekend bits. Each of these bits had begun to feel a bit shallow and disjointed because there wasn't really time to connect deeply- those times were spent getting ready for school, hustling through homework, rushing home from activities to get dinner and get to bed on time so we aren't exhausted to do it again the next day. This is a huge subject in itself, with many layers to sift. We don't get time back- either as a parent to be with our children- or as a child, to lose oneself in play and discovery and invention and creativity. Children are not immune to the reality of life- that time and money are valuable and in demand. Put in the position, they will adhere to it easily... to the detriment of their own development, I think. And as parents, we want our children to find work that will not only support them, but will draw on their talents and gifts, work they can give themselves to, be inspired by, and will fill them up. How will they recognize that feeling, that sense of flow, that yes! this is it! if they have never had the opportunity to explore?

There are always questions about these things, and there is no way to answer them in one post, which is why I am re-starting this blog... as a place to muse and share and journal.

To close, I will share a couple of TED talks that have been popular and are pretty inspiring along the lines of homeschooling. There are so many resources, good reads and such. I'll be linking to those along the way as appropriate.

Sir Ken Robinson:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

An amazing 13 year-old who homeschools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY

With that- enjoy! Happy New Year and thanks for your support-